1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for animating a doll, and more particularly to a platform adapted to support a doll in an upright position and for causing the doll to rotate when the platform is manually pushed along a horizontal play surface whereby the doll then appears to be dancing.
2. Status of Prior Art
A typical doll is a small figure resembling a human being, such as an infant, a child or an adult. The doll which is surely the most popular of all toys for girls, can trace its history back to ancient times, for Egypt, Greece and Rome have left well-preserved dolls formed of clay and other durable materials.
Doll technology has now reached a high level of sophistication, for dolls are now available that are articulated, bendable or stretchable whereby a player manipulating the doll can cause it to assume any desired posture. A doll intended for a child is not just a plaything, for the doll serves as a surrogate for a living being, and by playing with the doll, the child learns to relate to the being.
Thus in the case of the renowned Cabbage Patch Kids baby doll, a child who acquires this doll and handles it as if it were a living baby must also sign adoption papers and give the doll a name, just as if it were born to the child.
An activity that holds great fascination for children is dancing, and children therefore seek to make their otherwise inanimate doll appear to be dancing. To render a doll danceable, the Jupiter U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,121 provides a large doll whose size approaches that of a small child, the doll having articulated arms and legs and a pair of feet provided with straps to receive the feet of a child dancing with the doll.
In Jupiter, the doll and child together form a ballroom couple, one hand of the child holding the corresponding hand of the doll, the other hand of the child holding the doll about its waist while the other hand of the doll rests on the shoulder of the child. Since the feet of the doll are linked to those of the child, and the child and doll are holding each other, the child and doll then appear to be dancing as a couple.
The present invention also seeks to make a doll dance, but not by having the child dance with the doll as in the Jupiter patent, for then the doll's size must be close to that of the child holding it, but by having the doll dance on a platform or stage when the platform is manually pushed along a table or other horizontal play surface.
Of particular prior art interest is the Lemke U.S. Pat. No. 1,364,388 which shows a toy soldier mounted on a platform, a pin joined to the underside of the soldier and extending downwardly therefrom having a bent tip which engages the play surface in which the platform is placed. When the platform is dragged along this surface, the tip of the finger then sweepes a circular path to rotate the soldier attached to the pin and thereby simulate a military movement.
In the Kimodo U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,988, a doll mounted above a platform is caused to twirl to simulate dancing. For this purpose use is made of a thumb-operated flywheel operatively coupled to the doll. In the Kimura U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,206 the doll is turned about an axle rotated by a hand-crank operated mechanism. The Gunther et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,374 and the Yeu U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,764 shows platform mounted dolls animated by means of battery-powered motors.